Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Needless to say, I have MAJOR issues with this Vanity Fair/"60 Minutes" poll of best sitcoms ever. I would say people lack perspective -- "30 Rock" but no "I Love Lucy"? -- but "The Honeymooners" is on there, so maybe people are just stupid.

More like:

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
"The Bob Newhart Show"
"All in the Family"
"I Love Lucy"
"The Odd Couple"
"Roseanne"
"The Honeymooners"
"Seinfeld"
"Arrested Development"/"Curb Your Enthusiasm" (I don't really consider these sitcoms, but if you do OK.)
"Happy Days"/"Laverne & Shirley" (when they were good)
"Barney Miller"/"Maude"/"One Day at a Time"/"Family Ties"/"Family Affair"/"Green Acres"/"Leave It to Beaver"/"Will & Grace"

And though they weren't in my wheelhouse, where are/were "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "M*A*S*H," "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Taxi"?

Looks like a terrific list they have with, as you say, the egregious omission of I LOVE LUCY, which is arguably either #1 or #2. For me, that's hard because SEINFELD really is #1 or #2 also. Then there's ANGIE...

You're absolutely right. Where is "I Love Lucy"? No matter how you are judging (initial popularity, long-term popularity, influence), it has to be there. Most important, it's still funny. One that never gets mentioned, but is near the top of the list for me is "Burns and Allen." Their show was brilliant, and it was so far ahead of its time that even the hipsters never caught on.

My list:

"I Love Lucy""Mary Tyler Moore""Burns and Allen""The Odd Couple""The Bob Newhart Show" (with a shout-out to "Newhart," a seriously underrated sitcom)"Honeymooners""M*A*S*H" (doesn't hold up as well as I would wish, but it carried a wallop in its day)"Andy Griffith Show""Dick Van Dyke Show""Coach"

I know, the '50s, '60s are and '70s are over-represented, and recent decades are not represented at all. But not all decades are created equal when it comes to sitcoms.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" is unbeatable. The "Chuckles The Clown" Episode redefined comedy writing, and raised the bar forever.

"The Bob Newhart Show" is right behind. The "Death" Episode, where Bob almost falls down the elevator shaft, is an icon.

And of course "I Love Lucy," and yes, "Newhart " was underrated and incredibly creative and funny. "All In The Family" is another icon. Most of the others that you guys mentioned would fall on my top 25 list.